Thursday, June 4, 2009
EDUD 520 Reflections
This morning, I finally figured out how to record and upload on Screentoaster.com. What a fun and fantastic Web based tool. All of the Web based tools have been fantastic to explore. The teacher I worked with in fourth grade asked me at the beginning of the year if I would create a Web page for her class using the District's web tools. I thought that would be a great experience, but the project never got off the ground having to use the District's tools and guidelines. After learning about Blogspot.com and GoogleDocs Web sites, in the last month of the school year, I have finally created a Classroom Blog for that fourth grade teacher. I created a blog site, embedded a picture, tokbox videos, and had students interact on the blog. Wow, have I come a long way.
What struck me most about the times when I was involved with a lesson that incorporated technology, was how involved and interactive the students were in the projects. Many of the Internet sites have so much knowledge accumulated on one site that it would be impossible to read the whole site. The Educational Internet sites ask students not only to read, but they ask students to think, make decisions, and manage their research so that they find the information that they need to complete their assignments. I also discovered that the Internet can support learners at their varying degrees of ability. With teacher involvement, learners can find sites that are appropriate for their grade level, ability, and learning styles. I can see possibilities for incorporating technology throughout the curriculum. Technology is a very exciting tool which enhances student participation and learning. In this class I have learned from Barry, as well as from my fellow students. Thanks-I'm hooked on Technology.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
New Tech Standards & Requirements
I think it is fantastic that technology is now part of the Oregon Diploma: 2012 essential skills. Just as colleges and employers of high school students expect a minimum standard of ability concerning reading, writing, and math, so to should they be able to expect a minimum standard of technological ability from graduates. I also think that graduates deserve to receive technology training that prepares them for learning, living, and working within our society.
One of the ideas I have for implementing a technology strategy for developing Creativity, Innovation, Communication, and Collaboration is developing a class blog. Elementary school students can participate in the development and maintenance of a class blog.
Students can be involved in the designing of the layout of the blog, take pictures for the blog, participate in deciding what class work they would like displayed on the blog and, students can share all of this with their parents at home. Younger students can actually watch on a screen in the classroom as I add pictures, classwork, and make comments to the blog.
Older elementary students can actually create projects and add them to the blog. For instance, in my son's class we are going to tape student's biography presentations on tokbox.com and embed them to the class blog. Students will then be asked to visit the site in pairs, choose three biographies to read and make comments to each them. I should point out that this project could not be carried out completely with the school's computers. The school's computers do not have web cams. The teacher and I plan to use our laptops so we can make the project happen, but I'm starting to see that there may be problems with lack of technological equipment available to students.
For research, information fluency, critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making, I can think of many activities using active links. Allowing students to explore the Internet for solutions to questions like, how do I safely get rid of termites in my home? This question can challenge students to learn about termites, learn about termite habitat, decide what "safe" means, come up with solutions, and determine if the solutions are legitimate. This project could be done in small groups providing students the opportunity to think, problem solve, and make decisions as a group.
I also think it is important for students to learn to develop power point presentations. Researched information can be put in a power point presentation which can include pictures and active links. Elementary students cam also learn to use dictionary.com which offers not only word definitions but language translations and a thesaurus. As we have mentioned in our class before, technology can be easily implemented into lesson plans throughout the curriculum if we decide to make the effort. Because kids seem to be drawn to technology, I think technology can be easily merged with all of the Oregon Diploma essential skills.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Analyzing Student Datat in a Spreadsheet
The data indicates that all students have improved their test scores or increased their knowledge of the content. The student growth line of Kathrine is very interesting. She started out with the lowest test score of 120 and then shot up to 180. She then dropped back down to a test score of 160 and then back up to 180. Most students consistently increased their test scores. Kathrine's score seems to fluctuate. What is causing the fluctuations in her growth chart?
I had some trouble hiding data, so I followed Barry's advice and copy/paste the data on a seperate sheet so I could create a chart with the scores lower than 192. I think the Excel program is ok. I don't have alot of experience with Excel but I do think the Excel program on Google Docs creates a bit of busy work. We should be able to hide data so a chart can be created with the data we have showing. Also, I'm not sure about the publishing section. I posted my chart earlier today and when I later went to edit the post, my chart was gone. It could be my computer because it has had problems functioning in Google Docs today.
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